Conservation of… Types of Reactions

Conservation of… Mass Mass is neither created nor destroyed in a reaction. The mass of the reactants is equal to the mass of the products. This is often forgotten, or is a common misconception due to certain reactions.

Fire! Is the mass of the products equal to the mass of the reactants in a fire? Absolutely!! You are probably thinking of one reactant (wood) and not the other (oxygen), and one product (ashes, or buckminster fullerene) and not the others (water, carbon dioxide) Mass is not lost in this reaction. You are likely just letting most of the product blow away There is actually more mass of product than there was initial wood. That is because you are ignoring the mass of the reactant oxygen.

Conservation of… Atoms Atoms are always conserved in a chemical reaction. Atoms don’t spontaneously change into one another (at least not in this chapter, when we get to nuclear reactions it will be a different story).

Reactions in a water solution What happens when ions dissolve in water? Ions become free floating. In a crystalline solid, they are “stuck together”. In a solution, they are free to move. Obviously, this increases the rate of reactivity.

Conduction of Electricity to conduct electricity a substance must contain positive and negative particles that are able to move about the substance. Pure water does NOT conduct electricity ~there are no (+) and (-) particles For water to conduct electricity you must dissolve an electrolyte in it. Electrolyte- any substance that increases a solvent’s conductivity

What makes a good electrolyte ~something that produces ions when it dissolves NaCl is a strong electrolyte because it produces ion, sucrose C 12 H 22 O 11 is a nonelectrolyte, because it does not. HCl is a strong electrolyte, because it completely dissociates in water. Acetic acid CH 3 COOH is a weak electrolyte, because it does not.

Tap water Tap water is not pure water ~this is NOT necessarily a bad thing fluoride and chloride are intentionally added Electrolytes present in water make it a weak electrical conductor Which is why it is dangerous to drop electrical appliances in water

Precipitation Reaction ~ a reaction where a solid product is produced from aqueous reactants Precipitate- solid falling out of solution A precipitation reaction may occur when solutions are mixed based off different solubility rules.